The Liberty Ledger
Providing students and parents with the important updates and report of events happening at LMS.
- Wednesday, January 31- Oral Spelling Bee
- Friday, February 9- Liberty vs. Stone Basketball Games at Liberty
- Monday, February 19th - No School (President's Day)
 Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history.
Learn more about Black History month.
Lightspeed:
As part of our commitment to creating a safe and focused learning environment for your children, we are excited to introduce a new tool that our teachers will utilize: Lightspeed.
Lightspeed is designed to empower both teachers and students in the digital learning landscape. One of its key features is the ability for teachers to actively engage with student activity on laptops from their own computer screens. This functionally creates an environment that encourages focus and on-task behavior while teachers work with students in small groups.
Here are some key benefits of Lightspeed:
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Enhanced Focus: With real-time monitoring capabilities, teachers can monitor students' laptop activities during class as needed. This helps ensure students stay engaged with the lesson material and minimize distractions.
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Support for Individualized Learning: Lightspeed allows teachers to tailor their approach to individual student needs. Educators can provide personalized support by understanding how each student interacts with digital resources, ensuring that every student receives the attention and guidance they require. They can create groups and push out websites and tasks targeted to students’ needs, whether researching for a project or reviewing for a test.
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Restricting Access to the Web: Teachers can turn off or pause internet access and restrict students to specific sites during school hours. This, again, ensures students are focused on learning and minimizes distractions during valuable instructional time. .
We also want to inform you that students will only be monitored during school hours. The regular filters remain in place on school devices, but once they are home, teachers cannot monitor your students,
As parents and caretakers, we would like to encourage you to sign up for your own Lightspeed reports, which will allow give you similar functionality of seeing sites, use, and acceptable use time.
We understand the importance of balancing technology in education with maintaining a focused and secure learning environment. Lightspeed is designed with these considerations in mind, and it will contribute significantly to the overall success of our students. If you have any questions about the tool, please contact Shane Zavala, our Instructional Technology Coach, at sazavala@fcps.edu.
Middle School Sports:
Track and Field Competition is coming to Liberty MS this Spring. Student will have an Interest Meeting Wednesday, January 31st during Unity Time.
- Events to choose from will include 100m,200m, and 400m Sprint Events; 800m and 1600m Distance Events; Long Jump and Shot Put
- Practices start 21 February and will be held Monday and Wednesdays 2:30pm – 3:30pm. Additional After-School activities are available if students wish to use the Late Buses to get home.
- There will be 4 meets scheduled in April and May. These will be held on Saturday mornings on High School Tracks.
- To participate in Middle School Track Program the following information must be completed:
- Complete this form Spring MS Sports Registration
- Have a doctor complete the MS Sports Physical Form . Physical forms on record for Cross Country are valid if they were done within the current school year.
- Complete and sign the attached Emergency Care Card. The ECC can also be found and printed from your Parent Vue account. Please double check that all information is current.
- Review with your student the Student- Athlete Contract, students must sign this and comply with the contract to participate.
The 4 steps must be completed before students can participate.
Do you have a background in track? Would you like to assist or coach? We are still looking for coaching and volunteer support of our new Track Team.
For more information about our Track program, please contact Taren Suraci, Athletic Coordinator at tasuraci@fcps.edu , one of our coaches, Emilia Rastrick (erastrick@fcps.edu) and Montell Brown (mdbrown1@fcps.edu) or our After-School Specialist, Sandy Donlon at [sldonlon@fcps.edu]sldonlon@fcps.edu.
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Liberty PTA
Hello Liberty MS Community! Please find the upcoming PTA-sponsored events for students.
Spelling Bee is this week!
 Liberty vs. Stone Basketball Game:
This is a fun community event for our schools and our students. We hope you join us for the game and help our PTA raise funds for our student end-of-year celebrations.
In preparation for the games, we hope to have your support as we teach our students about proper spectator and sportsmanship behavior, as well as their responsibilities as students of Liberty. As we begin communication with our students, we want to include you regarding these expectations.
Attendance at games is encouraged for all our students; however, any students with referrals, SR&R violations, or incidents before any games can lose this privilege. The school administration will communicate with families and students if they have lost this privilege at the time of the incident and before the games. We will also be hosting Pep Rally/Assemblies on the 9th to review good sportsmanship and spectator behavior.
If you have any questions or would like to help with the games, please contact Sandy Donlon at sldonlon@fcps.edu or call 703-988-8230.
To volunteer please follow click on the link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B45A4AE2FA4F58-47373197-volunteer
To donate please click on the link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B45A4AE2FA4F58-47373176-donation
Order your 2024 yearbook today!
Take advantage of the sale price of $20.00 until January 1, 2024. After January 1st, the yearbook price will increase to $25.00 through the end of April, or until supplies run out.
Payments/preorders can be submitted through MySchoolBucks school store. Please select “School Store” and select the item you would like to purchase (i.e Yearbook 23-24)”.
Liberty Middle After- School Program
 It's Never Too Late To Sign Up
Schedule Updates for 2nd Quarter
Due to student interest and staffing schedules, the schedule has been updated. Staff will be posting activities, games, and fun that your students can participate in one day or more. Please review and encourage your students to try new activities. These updates will be posted on the "All-Student" and "All Parent" Schoology Courses.
3rd Quarter Weekly Schedule
Opioid Awareness
What Families Can Do to Fight Drug Misuse
FCPS is committed to raising awareness about the opioid epidemic with our educators, parents/caregivers, and students. Together, we can help ensure our students thrive.
What can families do?
- Show you disapprove of underage drinking and other drug misuse. More than 80% of young people ages 10-18 say their parents are the leading influence on their decision whether to drink.
- Show you care about your child’s health, wellness, and success.
- Show you are a good source of information about alcohol and other drugs. Find helpful resources on the FCPS Opioid Awareness webpage.
- Pay attention to your child and discourage risky behaviors.
- Build your child’s skills and strategies for avoiding drinking and drug use. Talk with your child about what they would do if faced with a decision about alcohol and drugs, such as texting a code word to a family member or practicing how they will say, “No thanks.”
Liberty Library Makerspace:
Our library makerspace could use a restock on items that students use often! Here are some of the items that we need:
- Crayola crayons (16-count)
- Crayola markers
- Duct tape
- Glue sticks
- Bottles of glue
- Masking tape
- Ballpoint pens
- Scotch tape
Feel free to reach out to our Liberty librarian, Maggie Wickham, with any questions: mpwickham@fcps.edu. All donations can be brought to the main office or brought directly to the library.
Thank you for your support!
Attendance FYI:
As students transition to middle school, one aspect that can sometimes be confusing is that each period has its own attendance. If a student arrives to school after 1st Period, their attendance will show an absence from all class periods they missed entirely and a tardy to the period they arrived during. They will not receive an all-day absence unless they were absent from all class periods.
To avoid receiving an automated attendance call, please submit the Attendance Form, or call our 24/7 attendance line at 703-988-8181 to report your student’s absence, late arrival, or early dismissal before 8:00 a.m. (i.e. before the end of 1st Period).
Questions or Concerns?
If you have any questions regarding resources like food and family assistance, please contact Angie Huber, School Social Worker at aahuber@fcps.edu
Or visit our Social Worker Page HERE
Helpful Resources
Facebook
Principal: Adam Erbrecht | AWErbrecht@fcps.edu
Assistant Principal: Gregory Hall | GHall3@fcps.edu
Assistant Principal: Jennifer Filsinger | JLFilsinger@fcps.edu
Assistant Principal: Sarah Letina | SCLetina@fcps.edu
Director of Student Services: Renee Pete | ERPete@fcps.edu
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